What Middle-earth’s Other Wizards Were Doing During The Lord of the Rings Saga

There are five Wizards in The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien’s capitalized “Wizards” are far more than ordinary sorcerers. They are angelic beings sent to Middle-earth in the bodies of elderly men, tasked with helping the Free Peoples stand against the Dark Lord Sauron. But where are the five Istari when the War of the Ring begins? Gandalf is everywhere he needs to be, while Saruman famously abandons his mission. The whereabouts and loyalties of the remaining three—Radagast the Brown and the two Blue Wizards—are considerably less clear. Tolkien left only scattered clues, and some of his later writings even contradict his earlier ideas.

Radagast the Brown is still somewhere in Middle-earth during the story and briefly appears in the books, although he has little direct involvement in the conflict. By the time war erupts, he is effectively absent from the main action. The two Blue Wizards are known to have traveled into the eastern regions of Middle-earth, but Tolkien’s writings leave open the question of whether they opposed Sauron or ultimately aided his cause.

Gandalf, by contrast, devotes himself completely to the mission of the Istari—even after losing his physical body and returning in a new form. Saruman takes the opposite path, rejecting his purpose and aligning himself with Sauron before turning against the Dark Lord as well. That betrayal eventually brings him a fate worse than death. The roles of Radagast and the Blue Wizards are far more difficult to pin down, so the clues Tolkien left behind are essential to understanding what they may have been doing during the War of the Ring.

Radagast’s movements during The Lord of the Rings are relatively easy to trace, yet his story remains frustratingly incomplete. The Brown Wizard does not appear in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, but he has a brief role in Tolkien’s novel. Saruman sends him to find Gandalf and persuade him to come to Isengard, shortly before Saruman captures the Grey Wizard.

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Radagast’s involvement does not make him evil. In the book, Gandalf says he does not believe Radagast intended to betray him. Rather, the trusting and uncomplicated Wizard appears to have been deceived by Saruman. That still leaves an important question: if Radagast remained loyal to the good cause, why did he not continue helping Gandalf? Tolkien never provides a clear answer.

Before the Fellowship leaves Rivendell, Elrond sends scouts ahead to gather information. Their report includes the news that some of the scouts eventually reached Radagast’s home at Rhosgobel, only to discover that “Radagast was not there.” The detail offers little explanation, except that Radagast is not playing an active role in the central events of the War of the Ring. His exact whereabouts remain unknown.

In Unfinished Tales, Tolkien offers a particularly troubling assessment: “Indeed, of all the Istari, one [Gandalf] only remained faithful … for Radagast, the fourth, became enamoured of the many beasts and birds that dwelt in Middle-earth, and forsook Elves and Men, and spent his days among the wild creatures.” The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion condenses this apparent shortcoming into two words, describing Radagast as seemingly “neglectful and easygoing.” He may have been protecting the birds and animals he cherished, but even that admirable work placed him far behind Gandalf’s efforts. At worst, his neglect of the wider mission makes him nearly as derelict as Saruman, though not openly treacherous. Either way, Radagast is nowhere to be found when Middle-earth needs its Wizards most.

The remaining two Istari are Tolkien’s famously mysterious Blue Wizards. They travel eastward thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, and the East remains their principal sphere of activity during the War of the Ring. Their location, therefore, is not especially difficult to establish. The real mystery is what they were doing there—and whether their work ultimately helped or harmed the fight against Sauron.

In Tolkien’s earlier conception, the Blue Wizards may have followed a path similar to Saruman’s. In Unfinished Tales, he suggests that they never returned from the East and may have become servants of Sauron. He expressed the same concern in a 1958 letter, writing: “What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.” That idea appears to echo the storyline involving The Rings of Power’s Dark Wizard in the East.

Later in his life, however, Tolkien gave the Blue Wizards a much more heroic purpose. In The Peoples of Middle-earth, he revised their story, suggesting that they played a crucial role in resisting Sauron across the eastern lands. He wrote that they “must have had very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of East … who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have … outnumbered the West.” These two versions cannot easily be reconciled, and Tolkien never explains the Blue Wizards’ specific actions. Still, if one interpretation is to be favored, the later account presents them as powerful agents working in the East to weaken Sauron while the main War of the Ring unfolded in the West.